We've been talking with each other lately more about “place” than “plastic.” Plastic pollution, the trash we pick up, one piece at a time gets us to the beach to add to our collection, but foremost among our desires is the lean we have to be in a place that is intact—unspoiled by the industrial global market place.
Where the plants and animals are shaped by the forces of natural selection; where the terrain of the landscape is shaped by forces of plate tectonics- and were it not for the sweeps of plastic shrapnel washing in, it’d be perfection.
On the trail to the beach where the ground has been continually disturbed, we do walk through a slough of invasive species: European Mustard and Hemlock and Italian Thistle. And European Beach Grass was planted to stop the motion of the dunes doing more harm than good. Now a pilot program has started to remove the invasive grass.... it’s a great experiment to see if a place can be put back to natural.
Despite a few flaws, all in all, this National Seashore is the most "right" a place can be. In spring the marsh thick with native Cattail and Tule is whirring with the calls of Redwing Blackbirds. Last summer we saw a pair of Tundra Swans flying back and forth over the marsh. Long necks like arrows. And as the crow flies, this place is only 25 miles from downtown San Francisco.